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STAR EDITORIAL TOPICS Active Support Needed There is a distinct possibility, the Guide and Brownie organizations in Port Perry may come to an end. At least, this is the opinion of the executive members of the Guide and Brownie Mothers, the governing body of the organizations, . Unless thé mothers of 102 Guides and Brownies in Port Perry become more actively interested, the executive members claim, they have no choice, but to disband the groups. oo At most of the meetings, only two or three mothers turn out to take an active part, while almost 100 find various and dubious reasons for' being absent from the meetings. As a matter of fact; some mothers apparently consider the Guide and Brownie Movement a straight "baby sitting service.' Five mothers attended the meeting held Wednesday, last week, a record for some time. : There are few towns the size of Port Perry blessed with a Guide and Scout Hall similar to the one erected here a number of years. The local organizations have standard, well, It would be a great shame, if all the hard, honest work accomplished through the years should become extinct, because the very people who benefit from the excellent service lack sufficient interest. At the moment, three Brownie Packs and two Guide Companies are in operation, however, there are enough young girls just waiting for the formation of a fourth Brownie Pack. The executive members urge the mothers to help save the Guide and Brownie Movement in Port Perry. It is not expected that all mothers attend every meeting, but with a little initiative and interest it should be 'possible to muster 15 or 20 of the 102 mothers to take "part and give a helping hand. . Unfortunately, the annual Mother dnd Daughter Banquet, considered the climax of a successful year will not be held. No doubt, the Guides and Brownies will be the most disappointed, but.again, it is due to lack of interest on part of the large percentage of the mothers. World's Gabbiest People Canadians still talk' more on the telephone" than any other people in the world. In 1967, Canadians led not only locally but throughout Ontario as Tu - the seventeenth consecutive year, up slightly from 664 conversations per person the previous year. And that adds up to millions of wasted hours! ~ We would hazard a guess that ninety per cent of "household calls are of no_ particular importance, and perhaps fifty per cent of business calls could be dispensed with. Put a charge of .10¢ a call on telephone "calls and see how many calls are considered worth this fee! : : Americans trailed Canadians by a narrow margin with an average of 667 calls per person, to make them the second most-gabbiest people in the world. The United States has the most telephones with more than 103 million in service at the end of 1967. Canada is in sixth place with 8.4 million trailing Japan with 18.2 million, the United Kingdom with 12 million, West Germany 10.3 million and the U.S.S.R. with an estimated O million. ~-- ii hk TTT In the world in 1967, 222 million telephones were in use, or 6.4% for every 100 people. PORT PERRY STAR COMPANY. LIMITED Serving Port Perry, Brooklin and Surrounding Areas P. HVIDSTEN, Publisher WM. T. HARRISON, Editor Member. of the Canadian Weekly Newspaper Association Member _ of the Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association Published every Thursday by The Port Perry Star Co. Ltd, Port Perry, Ontario. Authorized as second class mail by the Post Office Department, Ottawa, and for. payment of postage in cash. Subscription Rates: 'In' Canada $8.00 per yr., Elsewhere, $4.60 per year. + Single Copy 10c. always enjoyed the best of reputation for their high the world, in average calls. per person, 667.7, for ~ BILL SMILEY THE GOOD (?) OLD DAYS You know those people who have been going around for the past 20 years com- plaining, "Remember the good old day, when we used to have real winters, wi lots of snow?" . I'd like to. catch the next person who says it, and stick him, upside down, any- where in our backyard. All you'd -see would be two feet trying to semaphore "S.0.8.""--And- you wouldn't--even see that unless he were six feet tall or more. Quite a winter. In our town, you can park the car in front.of the house, and you wouldn't know it was there, except for the radio aerial. Because of the flu, and my bad back, and all those warnings about heart attacks, and bone laziness, I've been hiring boys to shovel our front and back sidewalks, about 90 yards of them. (Remember the good old days, when you offered to shovel somebody's walk and worked like a little beaver for two hours, knocked at the door when you were finish- ed, hoping for a dime, or maybe even a quarter, and some gentle, little old lady would say, "Thank you, little boy", and give you a cookie?) Things have changed. The kids now work for a straight dollar an hour, if you can find one small enough so that he hasn't been corrupted by the snow-shovellers' union. However it hasn't cost me much yet.. I've hired five, and three of them haven't been seen since they started work- ing on the front walk. We'll probably find them in the spring, smiling seraphically among the rotted oak leaves and fallen branches. ait But one of them,. a 7 rosy-faced urchin * called Jerry, is going to go places. He's right onthe job. Tf there's a gentle snow -- ¥ falling, and there's about an inch of it, and it's seven o'clock on a.Sunday morning, he phones to see if I. want him. If it's snow- .ing as if there was a big hole in the sky, and blowing like a banshee, and drifting deep, you couldn't get hold of that kid if you got the whole police force looking for - him, ' ' Much the same happens with the chap who plows the driveway. If there's three inches of light snow, he's right there. If / SORRY, MAN), THAT LITTLE ADDITION YOURE EXPECTING WILL JUST HAVE TO WAIT " Sugar and Spice > AA no L: FY STR = ogee there's eight" inches of heavy snow, Ill swear he just goes home and sits by the fire. And whichever, he has an unerring instinct for cleaning the driveway just three minutes before the town snowplow oom along and fills it in again. gi It's sort of fun driving in this stuff, though. It brings out the Cossack in the mildest of motorists. First, you eye. the ~ pile of snow at the mouth of your drive- way, Looks fairly light and only two feet deep. You get the old crock going, usually, start slowly backwards, out of the garage, then give it the gun and try to buck through the drift on sheer, raw courage and plain stupidity. Sometimes you even make it. Sometimes there's a foot of iron ice under - that surface of fluffy stuff. But.it's the nearest modern equivalent to a cavalry charge that I know, except that you're go- ing backwards. What gives it a little extra spice is that, "because of the huge banks, you can't see a thing in either direction as you hit that enemy line. The other day, I nearly tallied - two snowmobiles that were whizzing past. And the next day, an oil truck would have got me, except that this was one of the times I didn't break through the drift. You can't beat the modern methods of snow removal, though. They used to lug it away in trucks and dump it in some patch of wasteland. Today, instead of trucks, we have the snowblower. And in the spring, when the snow is all gone, you go out with first a shovel, then a rake, and finally a stiff broom, and re- move about four carloads of salt and sand from what used to be your nice, green lawn, Is our own fault, of course, People "used to put the beasts up on blocks in November. To-day, it's not only vital, but a matter of pride, to keep the car in action, even though we drive only three blocks 'to work. ; We're caught on the horns of our own dilemma, and it's painful, but it certainly keeps us on our toes, when winter decides that there's a lot of life in the old boy yet, and proceeds to prove it, ; ; --Toronto Telegram Syndicate ~/ mobiles an imitation glass that ~ by the Federation of Agricul- rr ps -- (J BE ------ GONE BY! 50 YEARS AGO : Thursday, January 23, 1919 Many statements have been made that our High School is a Big Liability on the town. After Expenditures and Receipts from outside sources Port Perry contributed the amount of $10,516.52. Merchants and- all concer. ned should regard Port Perry High School as an asset to the town which will be increased with the two new departments. Remit by Dominion Exp- ress Money Orders. If lostor stolen you get your money back. Chiefly "for roofing auto- resembles celluloid has 'been invented in Europe. The January thaw came in earnest this year and is still keeping it up. 15 YEARS AGO Thursday, January 21, 1954 In Family Doubles of bowling Jeanette, Hutchinson and Frank Hastings took home the groceries last_week for the best scores; 'Mabel Cook and Bob Vernon won the Mystery score prizes and Marion Crozier and Jack Cook the consolation prizes. 'Mrs. Don Gerrow and Roy, Mrs. Stuart. Rodman accomp- anied Mr. Anson Gerrow to the Rural Leadership Training Forum which was sponsored ture and other associated groups. It was held at the Community Hall in Myrtle. 10 YEARS AGO - Thursday, January 22, 1959 The barn on the farm of Steve Edwards, south of Man- chester, was completely dest- royed by fire on Saturday. It is still not known how the... "blaze started. : Minutes of a Special Meet- ing of Council of the Village of Port Perry held in the Municipal Office on Saturday, January 17, 1959. It was moved and seconded that the council of the Village of Port Perry give approval to the High. School Area Board for the addition of 6 (six) class rooms, cafeteria, combination auditorium. and gymnasium and alterations at a cost of sl 2 $250,000. LETTERS »n= EDITOR Port Perry, Jan. 14, '69 The Port Perry Star, Dear Sirs: I have kept a daily diary | for fifty years. Each year I mount several pictures which I consider special. For 1968 I have mounted your picture « ....of .the. first .arrival 1969-at.--.----.- the hospital. . The picture was cut out but the names of the parents were lost. ) ¥ But my congratulations to the parents, to the photo- grapher and to the Star for my "best picture of the year 1968. ' ~ Sincerely yours, _ Ernest A. Hodgson